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10 The Globe Theatre The Globe Theatre was the most important theatre in London in Shakespeare’s times. Structuring information a) Scan the texts and look at the pictures for important pieces of information. b) Make a mind map of all the aspects concerning the Globe Theatre. Richard Burbage, his brother and a group of actors owned a theatre in the City of London (north of the river Thames) in the late 16 th century. When they lost their lease to the land on which it was built they dismantled the wooden construction and took it to the South Bank and rebuilt it there. The theatres were a very popular form of entertainment. They were open to anyone. The spectators had to pay one penny to stand in the yard around the stage or two or more pence for a seat on the galleries. With bear- and bull-baiting, prostitution and theatres the South Bank was the most important entertainment area of London at the time. One reason was that the owners wanted to escape the restrictions in the City of London (north of the river). Audiences were very rude compared to today. People shouted at the actors, interrupted them, ate and drank and even threw things at them if they were not satisfied. As many people could neither read nor write, plays were announced by a flag on the roof of the theatre (black flag = tragedy, white flag = comedy, red flag = historic play). Before the start of the play in the afternoon trumpets were sounded. The plays had to be written for all classes of society. There was fighting to entertain the less educated people, there was poetry and romance for the ladies, there were references to literature and mythology for the educated. 1  142 Shakespeare live Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv